The MacBook M1 Air Is Still The Best Computer I’ve Ever Owned

Sydney's M1 MacBook Air on a side table with a seashell. — Sydney Butler / How-To Geek

The M1 MacBook Air remains unrivaled, even in the face of newer models like the M2. Its exceptional battery life, superior heat management, impressive performance, and silent operation due to the absence of fans make it an extraordinary machine. Even under heavy use, it’s incredibly efficient with RAM. For general users in 2023 looking for a reliable, efficient laptop, I would still recommend the MacBook Air M1 at $999.

I’ve spent years writing in the tech industry for sites like How-To Geek, and have had the chance to use a multitude of devices. Yet, in 2023, the 2020 M1 MacBook Air remains the unrivaled champion of my personal tech lineup. Here’s why.

My Journey with Mac

My first Mac was a 2019 Intel MacBook Pro 13″. I Bought it with a specific purpose in mind—to write for 9to5 Mac which I did for several months. Not only did I write on Macs, I wrote on a Mac so that I could learn the ins and outs as quickly as possible.

Little did I know then that it would evolve into my primary work machine. Eventually, my Windows system became nothing more than a gaming computer I occasionally needed screenshots from for work.

The reliability of MacOS was something I’d never experienced as a Windows user, where overnight updates frequently led to wasted time and money fixing unforeseen issues that were no fault of mine. As a freelance writer, every hour wasted is money down the drain. So although that first Mac wasn’t cheap, it paid for itself in no time. Windows 10, in particular, literally made me wary of going to bed because I might wake up to a Blue Screen of Death the next morning as I sat down to work.

Yet, that Intel MacBook was not without its problems. It tended to run hot, its performance was unimpressive, especially with the Intel GPU, and the battery life left much to be desired. Sure, it was a functional laptop, but it certainly wasn’t the best I had ever owned.

I could not fault the feel and build quality, the much-loathed butterfly keyboard didn’t bother me at all, and I can now admit that I actually liked the Touch Bar, which was (and still is) so divisive. I was definitely on board with the general idea of a Mac now, but this particular execution was a little flawed.

The Leap to M1

Transitioning to the M1 base model MacBook Air felt like a quantum technological leap. The M1 chip was a game-changer: a battery that seemed to last forever, zero heat generation under normal loads, and no fan noise, given the absence of fans altogether.

The performance was simply extraordinary, leaving the old Intel Mac in the dust and outpacing anything else of similar size and price class at the time. From 3D gaming to video editing, the M1 MacBook Air easily handled it, even with the 8GB model I had.

In fact, RAM is just never an issue. While I would constantly get low memory warnings with my 8GB Intel MacBook, I have never had my M1 Air complain about memory. And this is from someone who usually has 50 tabs open in Chrome, Spotify, Slack, Discord, WhatsApp, and a plethora of other apps. While in theory, this is putting additional strain on that hyper-fast SSD, after nearly three years of daily I haven’t noticed any change in performance or functionality.

Why the M1 MacBook Air Remains My Favorite in 2023

In 2022, Apple rolled out the M2 chip and 13-inch MacBooks to go with it. With WWDC 2023, the new 15-inch MacBook Air made headlines.

Despite the buzz, I find no compelling reason to abandon my trusty M1 Air. The only tempting aspect of the new M2 model is the larger screen size and better speakers of the 15-inch variant, offering a bit more real estate without shelling out for the 16″ MacBook Pro. If Apple keeps selling a 15-inch MacBook Air (and it’s an easy bet they will), I’d definitely consider that as my next system, but I think there are many years left in this little machine.

The best thing about the M1 MacBook Air is that I hardly ever spend any time thinking about its performance, which is a good thing. It’s just never an issue that comes up. It’s still more than capable of handling my daily workload, and I’ve had no performance complaints. For general users looking for a reliable, efficient laptop in 2023, I still recommend the MacBook Air M1 at $999.

Apple also knows this, which is why they’re still selling the base M1 alongside the newer M2 machines. They’ve made the best all-around general-purpose computer I’ve ever used, and it’s still the best computer you can buy for $1000 in 2023.